Posts Tagged ‘king’

Well, this is a start, I suppose. A slow, lurching start akin to that of a belligerent old truck running on stagnant fuel and wildly outdated business practices, but it’s still something. The long and short of it? Notorious Banner Saga pursuer King doesn’t want to own the word “candy” anymore. In the US. In EU territories? Well, that’s a different story. And it hasn’t announced any sort of cease-fire in its war against those who dare wield the word “saga” to describe their games that apply the actual dictionary definition of “saga.” Meanwhile, the trademark it’s sticking with – “Candy Crusher” – is mired in further controversy. The Candy Saga, in other words, isn’t over just yet.

So, it’s fairly widely believed that King, creators of Candy Crush Saga, don’t seem a very lovely lot. In fact, last week brought news of some alleged actions that are deeply unsavoury (geddit?), as the creator of CandySwipe revealed the extent to which King are apparently going to make his game – made in tribute to his late mother – go away. A game that, while not a match-3, happens to have a lot in common with Candy Crush Saga, only it came out two years before King’s own. This follows unpleasant behaviour toward Stoic and The Banner Saga, and their attempts to trademark basic English words and use this to legally threaten other developers. So, all in all, yeah, possibly not a company you’d want over for dinner.

Bearing all this in mind, it would seem rather nice if an enormous number of people were to stop playing their games, if you ask me. But of course, a lot of CCS players aren’t going to be RPS readers, but rather your mum or dad, cousin, colleague or friend, and maybe they’d be less keen to play if they knew who made it. Maybe you are too. So, with this in mind, below are my suggestions for games to play instead.

Update 2: And there’s now a statement from King.com on the subject, also at the end of the post.

Update: There’s now a response from Matthew Cox (Junkyard Sam) at the end of the post.

This story is starting to turn into a saga in its own right. A developer is now alleging that the increasingly infamous Candy Crush Saga-creator King.com copied the design of one of their games. Stolen Goose are the creators of a game called Scamperghost, about avoiding ghosts, collecting coins and using slow-motion to dodge. In a post explaining the situation, they say they were contacted by King.com to license the game, but that they turned down the offer before signing any contracts when a better deal came through. They claim that King.com then copied the game by producing a clone called Pac-Avoid.

This afternoon King – owners of Candy Crush Saga and an ever-increasing percentage of the dictionary – issued a statement defending their actions regarding the news that they had filed an opposition to Stoic’s attempts to trademark “The Banner Saga”. A defence that seems odd in the face of what’s actually happening. Especially as they’re arguably attempting to assert a trademark they don’t actually have. Appearing to believe they are the only company allowed to register games with “saga” in the title, King has exercised this by preventing other studios’ efforts to protect their unique game names with their own trademarks.

Yet in King’s statement (below), they make it clear that they don’t believe that Stoic is trying to profit from a similar name, and say they do not wish to prevent Stoic from using the name. A claim that seems, well, rather peculiar given the circumstances, and their appearing to say something quite different in their Opposition. It’s something Stoic have now told RPS they’re not too pleased about either, stating, “We won’t make a Viking saga without the word Saga, and we don’t appreciate anyone telling us we can’t.”

Yesterday the internet was alive with the news about King, owners of Candy Crush Saga, their trademarking of the word “Candy”, and their ensuing threats to other developers who are using the word in their game titles. The response from King was to flap their eyelashes and protest innocence – they were only defending the Earth against evil, not liberally chasing anyone and everyone. About that. We’ve seen the document that shows their attempt to go after The Banner Saga.

While the joys of Candy Crush Saga have only reached the PC in the form of a Facebook app, the implications of one of the worst decisions by the US trademark office affect developers on all platforms. They have, as of last week, decided it’s perfectly reasonable for owners King to trademark the word “candy”. And they’re trying to get “saga” too.

So it is that Gamezebo reports developers are now receiving threats that they must remove their apps or games if they have had the temerity to use this oh-so rare word in their product name. It’s the “edge” fiasco all over again, except this time with actual legal muscle behind it.

Not exactly the hottest day for gaming news. So for your entertainment, here are some of today’s least essential PC gaming stories:

Out From The Cold
With remarkable timing, the recent revived Microïds have launched a website for the Syberia series of games. That would be Syberia from 2002 (a surprisingly decent point and click adventure) and Syberia II from 2004 (a surprisingly tedious point and click adventure). Four years zip by, and now they’ve got a website! (From which you can buy and download either for €15 – the first one’s worth a go if you’re an adventure fan. If you’re not, you’ll hate its mobile-phoney-clockworky-walk-back-and-forthy nonsense).